Email to the family from Amy

Family,

Hello. Things are going well. I thought I'd write a little note just for the family. I'm going to try not to repeat myself, so if you want info, look at the previous email. I am doing really well here. I feel very good about my permanent site. I will have to be proactive to prevent loneliness since the site is so isolated, but I am really comfortable in the community and I feel very much taken care of. I did feel a little shy and embarrassed by all of the attention, but I tried to accept it graciously. Culturally some of the ways of being polite and showing honor are different from American ways. For example, in America it is generally polite to refuse food, at least the first time it is offered, but in Namibia you show honor by eating the food they give you, which was quite a challenge. I wanted to show honor to the family because they were so kind to me and so hospitable, but I didn't really know how to do it. It is quite hot here. I am being vigilant with sunscreen. Surprisingly, no one has really commented about my hair. Children were fascinated by my freckles, though. They would come up and gently touch my arm. Some of them would rub gently. I think they think that it's dirt or a stain that will come off. I was explaining to one of the teachers how I use sunblock and she said, "Did the sun do that to your skin?" and pointed to the freckles on my arm. It's really interesting. Thank you for all of the prayers. I have been thinking of you all. I missed you a lot on Thanksgiving. I thought of you. I'll try to call on Christmas, it was just too difficult for Thanksgiving. I love you all a lot. Please, if you are sending a package, send paper pictures. I brought a load of digital photos, but next to no paper photos. Also, I would appreciate a surge protector if it doesn't cost too much to send. I love you all again.

Love,

Amy

A tidbit about Amy in Jason's blog (excerpts from an e-mail from me)

You're back! We heard via Jason that you had a great welcome in Anker. He said it was the best welcoming story he had heard

From Jason's blog:
By far most of the stories are good. It seems that everyone has had positive experiences and is looking forward to getting to work. I have heard several people who have been intimidated by the accomplishments of previous PCV's, given a high standard to uphold. I've also heard the dirty house story, the "my boss doesn't care much" story, and the "I'm the only white guy/girl" story many times over in different contexts. Amy had the best "welcome to the village" story, she arrived to the whole school holding a sign with her name welcoming here; singing, dancing, the whole works. The funniest story goes to Mike who was solicited for money and food through a broken window while taking a shower. He took second place as well with the account of one student who, upon witnessing him exit the van when he first arrived, remarked "looks like it's going to be a white Christmas after all!"

We read his blog tonight (Sun night ) about 6 pm. That was also our clue that you had made it back safely. We are very thirsty for news about you and your week. We tried calling you unsuccessfully today at about 1:00 pm our time (9 pm yours) using the modified number we had from you before and a cell phone number that was on Brock's blog. The one from Brock's blog went through and we could barely hear someone talking briefly but it soon disconnected. Otherwise we just got busy signals. Talk to Jason about how he gets calls. He has said he has spoken to his family a couple of times.

More Blog entries from Amy's Teammates

Brock:
"Plague of the moth like bugs with 4 wings"


Jason:
Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Finding Amy on Google maps

Click to enlarge. Amy's town of Anker is located 50 miles NW of Khorixas and 30 miles SW of Kamanjab.

I have always felt that finding a place on a map helps you feel a little like you are there. It has been frustrating to find so little about Anker where Amy is right now. However I discovered a way to find it on Google Maps and Google Earth.

I typed " latitude longitude Anker Namibia" in to Google and found a health clinic website that had the coordinates for an Anker Clinic. It seems there are at least two Ankers in Namibia and this one is in the area that Amy described

I then pasted those coordinates into Google Maps and this is the satellite photo of Anker, Nambia. You can zoom in or out to see more detail although there isn't much to the town:
Anker, Namibia



I did the same for Kamanjab and it gave me a location about 30 miles ENE of there:
Kamanjab, Namibia


And Kamanja to Anker:



Also Omaruru:
Omaruru, Namibia



and Windhoek:
Windhoek, Namibia


None of these are in high resolution, but you can see roads, terrain and blurry buildings.

Google Earth is even better if you have downloaded it and if you enter the following coordinates into the search space:

Anker -19.78500 14.53000

Kamanjab, Omaruru and Windhoek, Namibia - just type the city and country name in the space

Windhoek is in high resolution so you can actually see individual buildings.

Blog entries from teammates

Thanksgiving day blogs from Brock:

"Address"

and Jason:

Day 17

and a couple of new blogs from teammates:

Beth:

Go.Serve. Namibia

and Andrew:

Green Hills of Africa